Anthony Albanese says Australia’s contentious new joint nuclear submarine program with allies Britain and the United States is as much about providing domestic jobs and economic prosperity as it about national security.
The Australian prime minister, in the UK ahead of King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, spoke after joining Britain’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, to tour the BAE Systems shipyard in Cumbria, where nuclear submarines will be built as part of the AUKUS agreement announced earlier this year alongside US President Joe Biden and UK counterpart Rishi Sunak.
“It’s about something more than our national security, it’s about jobs and economic prosperity,” he said.with Britain and vice versa and insisted that his government had been upfront and transparent about the costs of the project and that the new submarine workforce would bring to South Australia a huge benefit, which would be similar to the car industry that drove Australia’s post-war economy.
Albanese spoke to local apprentices Maddison Baillie, 16, and Jacob Gillibrand, 17, who showed him how to bend a metal pipe at 90 degrees using a vice.He went on to test the connectivity electrical cables and asked worker Stuart Porter, 39, an apprentice electrician, how he ended up in the job. He told him he used to be a teacher but swapped careers to come an apprentice electrician at BAE.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Albanese visits AUKUS submarine facility, hopes resulting jobs boom will be like post-war car industryAnthony Albanese tours the AUKUS submarine facility in northern England and says he hopes the nuclear-powered submarine deal will provide the same kind of job opportunities that the car industry did for Australia after World War II.
Read more »
King Charles meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony AlbaneseIt was all smiles at Buckingham Palace today, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with King Charles III ahead of his coronation this weekend.9News MORE:
Read more »